CAPE News

Private School Students Take AP Exams at Above-Average Rates

June 1, 2015 -- Last month, more than two million high school students endured more than four million Advanced Placement (AP) exams in an effort to get a jump on college credit and demonstrate college readiness.

A lot is riding on those exams. Students who do well can cut college expenses or take upper-level college classes. College credits earned in high school can also pave the way for a double major or a semester overseas. The College Board, which publishes the exams, says students who attain an AP score of 3 or higher not only earn higher GPAs in college than their peers, but are also more likely to actually graduate.

With AP courses serving as one indicator of the extent to which high schools challenge students and prepare them for college, CAPE obtained from the College Board summary data about AP exams and scores for students in private schools who took the tests in 2014.

It turns out that private school students took a disproportionately high number of AP exams and scored higher than average on those exams. What's more, private schools had a greater percentage than public schools of students with scores of 3 or more, and had narrower black/white achievement gaps.

Montana Becomes Newest School Choice State

May 12, 2015 -- Montana joined the school choice community yesterday when Governor Steve Bullock allowed a tax credit scholarship bill to become law by default -- without his signature or veto.

On April 24, the Montana House and Senate approved a conference committee version of legislation to provide individual taxpayers and businesses a dollar-for-dollar tax credit worth up to $150 for contributions to private school scholarship organizations and/or to an innovative education fund for the state’s public schools.

The total amount of tax credits statewide may not exceed $3 million for each component of the program, but if the aggregate limit is reached in a given year, the state must increase the limit by 10 percent for the succeeding year.

In Montana, the governor has ten days to veto a bill before it becomes law by default. Having vetoed similar legislation in the past, the Governor Bullock's inaction on the measure came as a welcome surprise to choice supporters.

The new program, which takes effect January 1, 2016, defines a student scholarship organization as a charitable organization exempt from federal income tax that allocates not less than 90 percent of its revenue to scholarships.

Any school-age child in the state is eligible for a scholarship, which may not exceed 50 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in the state’s public schools. Scholarship organizations may not limit access to a particular school; nor may donors direct their contributions to specific students or schools.

Participating private schools must administer a nationally recognized standardized test and make the results available to parents. If a school has students in eighth-grade or eleventh-grade, it must administer the test in those grades and make the overall results public on either the school’s Web site or the Web site of the state’s Office of Public Instruction. Schools must also satisfy any health and safety requirements that apply to private schools in the state.

The new law makes Montana the 25th state in the country that has one or more private school choice programs. That count excludes town “tuitioning” programs in Maine and Vermont as well as scholarship programs in the District of Columbia and Douglas County, Colorado.

April an Abundant Month for Parent Choice

May 1, 2015 -- As it brought nature to abundant life, April brought hope to children, with legislatures in six states approving measures to expand the right of parents to choose their child’s school.

Lawmakers in Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, and Tennessee thrust the school choice movement into warp drive with an impressive mix of new programs, including education savings accounts, vouchers, tax credits, and tax-credit scholarships. Except for Montana, all the bills have been, or likely will be, signed into law.

The flurry of legislative activity this spring will bring to 24 the number of states with private school choice programs, not counting town “tuitioning” programs in Maine and Vermont or scholarship programs in the District of Columbia and Douglas County, Colorado.

Scholarship Tax Credit Bill Introduced in Congress

April 1, 2015 -- As the spring brings new buds, a new Congress brings new bills. To date, members of the 114th Congress have had no trouble planting their fair share of legislative proposals (nearly 3,000 and counting), many focusing on education, and some even promising real reform.

Two bills that fall in the latter category are S. 809 and H.R. 1511, Senate and House versions of the Educational Opportunities Act, which would empower low-income parents to choose the best schools for their children by providing a federal tax credit for donations to private school scholarship funds.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and U.S. Representative Todd Rokita (R-IN), who chairs the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, introduced the bills in their respective chambers.

“It is shameful that the only parents in our country who don’t have choice regarding their children’s education are parents living in poverty,” said Rubio. “This bill will ensure every parent and child has access to a school that best suits their learning needs where they can thrive and go on to become America’s future leaders.”

Congressman Rokita said the bill “would help thousands of students from low- and middle-income families attend schools of their choice.” He added that the legislation “capitalizes on Americans’ generosity and would increase access to educational opportunities without spending more money.”

Senator Sponsors Capitol Hill Forum on Choice

March 2, 2015 -- United States Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), one of Capitol Hill’s most active and ardent advocates for school choice, sponsored a full-day forum last month to discuss what his office described as “the urgency of promoting academic excellence for every child, regardless of family income, socioeconomic status or background.”

Titled “Choosing Excellence,” the event featured a stellar lineup of elected officials and experts, all encouraging an expansion of the ability of parents to choose their child’s school.

Raised by a single mom under challenging circumstances, Senator Scott told the assembly of parents, students, and supporters of choice that his years in school taught him “the power of education,” which he said is truly “the power of freedom.”

Without choice, said Scott, parents cannot secure for their children the education necessary for their success, achievement, and significance. “And so the issue of school choice for me is part of my DNA,” he added.

Survey Looks at the Steps Involved in Choosing a Private School

February 2, 2015 -- What prompts parents to consider enrolling their children in a private school? What factors move them to settle on one particular school over another? And what do they think about the way they are treated during the application and admission process? A comprehensive survey of over 2,300 parents who recently experienced that very process yields some fascinating and valuable results for private school officials in charge of recruiting students and families.

The survey was conducted in May and June of 2014 on behalf of the Secondary School Admission Test Board (SSATB), an organization that, according to its mission statement, is devoted to “meeting the admission assessment and enrollment needs of schools, students, and families.” Engagingly presented as a train trip that parents take from first consideration of a school, through campus tours, into the application process, and finally arriving at a decision, the survey report, titled The Ride to Independent Schools, captures the journey from start to finish. Positioned throughout the text are helpful markers alerting admission officials about steps they can take to make the “ride” more pleasant and successful.

Federal Report Looks at Crime and Safety in Schools

January 2, 2015 -- One of the top expectations parents have of schools is that they be safe and secure. Mothers don’t want their sons to be threatened or hurt; fathers don’t want their daughters taunted or bullied, and everyone wants schools where learning can occur without fear, disruption, or disorder.

A new federal report describes how well schools are meeting those expectations. Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2013 offers the most recent data on what it describes as “the current state of school crime and safety across the nation.”

The document examines the data through various filters, including the type of school students attend. One measure worth noting: In 2011, “approximately 19 percent of students ages 12–18 attending public schools reported that gangs were present at their school, compared with 2 percent of students attending private schools.”

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National Summit Shines Spotlight on School Reform

December 2, 2014 -- It’s tough to bring an audience of no-nonsense businesspeople, policy advocates, and legislators to tears, but that’s exactly what Denisha Merriweather managed to do last month with an inspiring story of triumph over adversity.

Denisha beat the odds. During moving remarks at the 2014 National Summit on Education Reform, she recounted a life of challenge: born into poverty, disruptive in class, held back twice, and hating school. Her likely path was that of so many similar students: dropping out, having a baby, and spending the rest of her life “trying to make ends meet.”

But a caring godmother, Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, and Esprit de Corps Center for Learning in Jacksonville “changed everything,” said Denisha. “The teachers there challenged me to make the honor roll, and I embraced that challenge. The school’s small size and faith-based environment made me feel welcome. For the first time in my life, I woke up in the morning looking forward to school.”

Private School Students Boost National SAT Scores

November 3, 2014 -- The headlines in early October captured some of the story: “2014 SAT Scores Remain Stagnant,” “Student Performance Stalls on SAT.” They reflected what the College Board itself reported: SAT scores for the 2014 crop of high school graduates were stubbornly stuck at levels “similar to other recent senior classes.”

But the fixation on stagnation largely ignored another important element of the story: scores varied significantly by the type of school students attended. It turns out that students who graduated from religious and independent schools had scores that substantially outdistanced those of students in public schools and actually helped lift the national average. Mean SAT scores for public school seniors were 492 in reading, 478 in writing, and 501 in math. Comparable scores for students in independent schools were 535, 542, and 580. Meanwhile, students in religious schools scored 533, 527, and 537 (see table).

Education Secretary Meets with CAPE’s Board

October 6, 2010 -- Acknowledging a strong personal connection with private education, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met twice with religious and independent school leaders last month—first with CAPE’s board of directors September 21 and then, the following day, with attendees at a private school leadership conference sponsored by the Education Department’s Office of Non-Public Education (ONPE).

“I am a product of a phenomenal private school,” Duncan said at the ONPE event. “And a big reason why I went into education is that I knew every day growing up how lucky my sister and brother and I were to go to an extraordinary school.”

Striking a similar theme at the CAPE meeting, the secretary said he had “tremendous respect” for the schools that CAPE represents--schools that collectively do “an extraordinary job of educating children around the country.”